Eric Bailly, a young centre-back previously playing for Villarreal, joined as part of a £30million deal last month.

Henrik Mkhitaryan is also expected to make the move to Old Trafford in next few days. The attacking midfielder will leave Borussia Dortmund with one year remaining on his contract at Signal Iduna Park.

Mourinho, who replace Louis van Gaal as United’s manager in May, is believed to have identified four key positions to strengthen before he accepted the job – a new centre-back, a central midfielder, a right winger and a centre-forward.

With Mkhitaryan expected to supplant Juan Mata on the right wing of United’s line-up, only the central midfield addition remains to be made.